HELP - 1st time pool owner and NO IDEA where to start! (pics)

Jump to latest Follow Reply
Good morning. Can you post your FC levels to give us an idea how you FC is holding between dosing intervals? You haven't truly been at the slam part long, but I too am a fan of fast color change and I want to make sure you're not tarrying at uber green longer than you need to ;)

The most important thing during a slam is not to let the FC level drop below your target shock/slam level according to the CYA:Chlorine chart. For example, if your Target is 16 ppm and you dose to 16 ppm at noon, then test at 2 pm and its well below 16, then you've spent a good part of those two hours letting algae outpace you. Its a race ;)

So you want to dose a few ppm (not TOO many) higher at noon so that you're at or close to target at 2 pm. If an hour is a pie, you want most of that pie to be at or above slam value. That's the only way you get ahead of multiplying algae in warm water.

Now that you've added the CYA, you need to make sure the target level you're using for slam value accounts for the Cya, even if its not dissolved yet.

So if you added 30 ppm of CYA, then your slam target is 12 ppm, and you might want to dose a bit higher (but stay below Mustard Algae shock level of 19 ppm is at 30 cya) and thn see how long until it drops back to 12.

-- Alternately, if you added 40 (eg already ad 10 pm cya, hitch doesn't read) then your slam value is 16 ppm...so check the chart in my signature to make sure you're targeting high enough.

Hope that helps. It should speed things up if you're able to make sure hubby also understands its total zone defense here on the FC levels ;)
 
Ok, I will post the numbers when I get home. In the meantime, I'm wondering why I even have a FC limit? My target is 12 because I put enough stabilizer in for a CYA of 30. But why not put a target of 14 or more FC? I've been checking every 2-4 hours and range from 8 - 10.5 FC. I'll get the exact info in a while.
 
that said, it depends on how often you are there to test and adjust. If your target is 12, and you are there a lot, you can do 13 or 14 and not worry about dropping below 12. If you are going to be away, better to shoot for 14-15 so that it doesn't drop below 12 for long at all. As someone said earlier in another thread, every minute the FC is below the target is a minute you are breaking even or losing ground to algae growth. If the SLAM takes an extra 4 days because it kept dropping below the target, that is just an extended amount of time everything was exposed to shock levels of chlorine.
 
carterje, you will get there.

For comparison, I spent some 10 days and used, oh, 80+ jugs of bleach for my SLAM.

The first few days are the hardest -- especially if you can't test and add more than once during a workday (which was my biggest problem).

What I ended up doing -- and this MAY NOT BE ADVISABLE in your instance, since you have a liner -- was to first pick an FC target 1-2 ppm higher than the FC/CYA chart recommended, then test, plug my FC and FC goal into PoolMath, round up by one jug (i.e., if it calls for 4.2 121-oz. jugs of 8.25% bleach, add 5) and add one more. This allowed me to overshoot my FC target (sometimes significantly...oops) and allow the additional chlorine to work while I was, well, working. Once I realized I wasn't maintaining my SLAM levels and started overshooting my FC target, my pool started making much better progress.

Although it wasn't necessary, I also checked CC throughout my SLAM. I guess I wanted to know just how hard the chlorine was actually working. It wasn't uncommon for my FC to drop by 7, 8, or even 10 ppm in just 2 hours' time at first -- even at night. At one point early on, my CC showed to be 21 ppm.

I don't share all this to scare/intimidate/discourage you -- just know we (or at least I -- don't want to go speaking for folks I don't really know...) understand everything you're dealing with. I thought I'd never get done with my SLAM. One night, after sleeping 2 hours at a time for 4 or 5 nights in a row, I seriously considered going back to the local pool store, hat in hand, and begging forgiveness for committing the ultimate pool store sin of 'doing it myself.'

But, boy, am I glad I stuck with it. I honestly thought something was wrong with my pool the first time I saw it sparkle -- in the 3 summers I've lived in this house, I'd never seen it do that. I also discovered there is writing molded into my main drain (8ish feet down) -- AND I can read it from outside the pool.
 
COBrien said:
But, boy, am I glad I stuck with it. I honestly thought something was wrong with my pool the first time I saw it sparkle -- in the 3 summers I've lived in this house, I'd never seen it do that. I also discovered there is writing molded into my main drain (8ish feet down) -- AND I can read it from outside the pool.
Click to expand...

Now THAT is what it is all about!!!!!!!!!!

That was so neat to read!

Kim
 
Ok, I will post the numbers when I get home. In the meantime, I'm wondering why I even have a FC limit? My target is 12 because I put enough stabilizer in for a CYA of 30. But why not put a target of 14 or more FC? I've been checking every 2-4 hours and range from 8 - 10.5 FC. I'll get the exact info in a while.
Click to expand...

Carterje, with cya of 30 you could go a little higher, eg. Just under mustard shock level of 19, if you need to in order to be certain you don't drop below 12 before your next dose. Generally, if you can keep it near 12 via more frequency, you waste less bleach/FC that way. We never want to encourage waste or risk, so the parameters are pretty specific here ;)

But that series of swamp pics you see in my profile thumbnail took something closer to mustard shock level in the beginning to turn from back to brown to turquoise and my liner lived to tell the tale ;)
 
Thank you for the encouraging words everyone, I needed it this morning. What I realized was that the first 2 days, we were letting the FC levels get too far below our target of 12. My husband decided he wanted to take matters into his own hands while I was at work and pretty much started dumping bleach, which frankly, made me pretty mad. Reading COBrien's post was pretty encourage though! For the last 2 days, we haven't gone below 12 yet! I did up the target to 14 and we've been between 12 and 14 consistently for 2 days (there may have been a 22 in their for a brief period thanks to my hubs, oops). We are vacuuming everyday (the amount of stuff coming out is less and less). Cleaning the filter 1-2 times a day. I'm going to work on it all weekend (despite the rain) and I really hope to see progress come Monday morning. I'm getting worried for my goal of July 4th...
6b2e68b2d7d75ba33732e055dbb43a2d_zps716et8zh.jpg
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
COBrien said:
carterje, you will get there.

For comparison, I spent some 10 days and used, oh, 80+ jugs of bleach for my SLAM.

The first few days are the hardest -- especially if you can't test and add more than once during a workday (which was my biggest problem).

What I ended up doing -- and this MAY NOT BE ADVISABLE in your instance, since you have a liner -- was to first pick an FC target 1-2 ppm higher than the FC/CYA chart recommended, then test, plug my FC and FC goal into PoolMath, round up by one jug (i.e., if it calls for 4.2 121-oz. jugs of 8.25% bleach, add 5) and add one more. This allowed me to overshoot my FC target (sometimes significantly...oops) and allow the additional chlorine to work while I was, well, working. Once I realized I wasn't maintaining my SLAM levels and started overshooting my FC target, my pool started making much better progress.

Although it wasn't necessary, I also checked CC throughout my SLAM. I guess I wanted to know just how hard the chlorine was actually working. It wasn't uncommon for my FC to drop by 7, 8, or even 10 ppm in just 2 hours' time at first -- even at night. At one point early on, my CC showed to be 21 ppm.

I don't share all this to scare/intimidate/discourage you -- just know we (or at least I -- don't want to go speaking for folks I don't really know...) understand everything you're dealing with. I thought I'd never get done with my SLAM. One night, after sleeping 2 hours at a time for 4 or 5 nights in a row, I seriously considered going back to the local pool store, hat in hand, and begging forgiveness for committing the ultimate pool store sin of 'doing it myself.'

But, boy, am I glad I stuck with it. I honestly thought something was wrong with my pool the first time I saw it sparkle -- in the 3 summers I've lived in this house, I'd never seen it do that. I also discovered there is writing molded into my main drain (8ish feet down) -- AND I can read it from outside the pool.
Click to expand...

Thank you so much for your story, it's going to get me to stick with this process because I was having the exact same thoughts about the pool store. I also started "rounding up" when adding bleach too. I just didn't want to admit that I wasn't following the process to the letter! Honestly, if our pool survived the last 2 years of my husbands muratic acid pours, I was hoping an extra 1/2 bottle of bleach would be fine. You did everything but scare/intimidate/ discourage! I needed a story similar to mine to let me know this will work. Thank you again!!
 
Another few days and that pool is going to be a sparkling blue. Keep it up and keep the pics coming!
 
Good work finding the sweet spot. We're always a little reluctant to tell someone to go way over Slam level for fear of them harming liner, but since the cya test is only accurate + or - 10-15 ppm, sometimes you find riding mustard shock level is ACTUALLY closer to your true regular Slam level.

So keep at it, and note color change progress, which you should see daily!
 
I'm soooooooooo close!! The water is just a little cloudy. I can definitely see the bottom of the pool, but not as clear as I should. I was going to do the OCLT tonight to see if I'm done. I tested FC and CC tonight. FC was 9, but it poured rain pretty much all day and we didn't add any bleach since last night. And CC was 2.5. I read that I'm not done with SLAM until the water is clear, OCLT is 1 or less and CC is .5 or lower. So,

How do I lower CC?
When do I test everything else?

When I'm done with SLAM, do I just stop adding bleach until I'm down to 4 and just keep it there?
What's the recommendation for how often I should run the filter?

Then, the million dollar question, how do I keep it right? Do I do ALL tests every day, every 3 days, etc? Do I need to keep chlorine tabs in, etc.

I know I'm not there yet, but I owe everyone such a huge thank you for keeping me encouraged and getting me this far, so thank you!

ae857a9c6cfa08d8d99344a2832d2588_zpsgs1mfhqm.jpg

note: day 9 was yesterday, I didn't get out in the daylight for a picture today.
 
Don't stop slam too soon! You're better off holding it a bit longer than you think rather than stop prematurely and still have issues. If you still have cc than you still have something holding on. Fc eliminates cc. Hold steady. You're almost there.
 
+1 on don't stop too soon, but AWESOME progress ;)

Once your cc is den to .5, you pass the OCLT, ad the water is crystal clear with no debris anywhere, then yes, let your FC drift down to target.

To determine target FC, re-test your CYA, then check what your FC should be in the FC:CYA chart in my signature. Dose to the "high" number of the normal range, and note how many ppms your pool tends to use a day...adjust dosing accordingly (eg if your range is 4-7, dose o 7, but if te next day you're down below 4, then des higher so you never drop below 4.)

Then in the beginning test FC and ph daily, adjust daily. Full readings only once a week or two weeks once you've got the hang of it. Once you see consistent pattern, yo can test FC and PH every second day if you want. I still test almost daily because I like to keep my ph Low for metals ;)
 
Isn't it an awesome feeling? You lower CC by continuing to keep the FC up to SLAM level until the CC is gone. This is an important step. Stick with the SLAM. You don't want to undo all of your hard work.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply